Rally for Justice

A few weeks ago, Louisiana State Trooper Superintendent, Col. Lamar Davis announced to the public, the changes that he is implementing following two controversial traffic incidents involving two African American men. Those men, Ronald Greene and Aaron Bowman were severely beaten allegedly by officers of Troop F based outside of Monroe over a two-year span. Ronald Greene succumbed to his injuries and Bowman suffered multi-injuries, especially to his head area, that thankfully didn't result in his death. Both incidents were appalling, and some would say that the videos of those beatings were covered up by LSP, only to be made public through tough investigative reporting by the AP. In an earlier press conference, Davis expressed "outrage" and wanted to know why Black people were seen as the only group of people who suffered excessive force from the hands of officers now under his command. Davis would go on to say that "changes" that he is implementing would consist of (1) bring diversity to LSP and make the Command Team "more" diverse. "Diversity is value added", said Davis. (2) duty to intervene to stop excessive force, no matter the rank of officers. (3) mandated body cameras, as they are to be reviewed every quarter. (4) ban of chokeholds to neck area and use of less than lethal weapons. (5) implicit bias training-to decrease biases. (6) de-escalation training program and (7) a unit to investigate officer-related shootings and jail house deaths. some would say that is an impressive itinerary and bold steps to undertake at an agency that has shown a stubborn resistance for change, even though police departments know that in order for them to get better, there has to be some change. The announcement of Trooper Jacob Brown of Troop F being charged by the U.S. Department of Justice over the alleged beating of Bowman, will put those desired changes to the test. Brown is charged with a single count of Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law and if convicted (big "if"), could face years in prison and face a hefty fine. However, many may wonder or ask themselves, how is it that a federal law enforcement agency could do something that local/state "couldn't" do. Why wouldn't LSP in the face of what appears to be overwhelming evidence of excessive force just by looking at Bowman's face, the lifeless body of Greene and not conclude that something horribly wrong happened? In a statement, LSP "concluded that Brown engaged in excessive and unjustifiable actions, intentionally mislabeled the video evidence, and failed to report the use of force to his supervisors". The statement further said that "over the last 11 months, LSP has and continues to seek fundamental improvements to our operations, training and administration that will lead to building trust within the community. Ever notice how often the word "trust" appears when there are charges filed that could lead to a conviction and prison time and the image of that law enforcement agency is at stake? Davis made the announcement of 7 new changes around Sept. 10, 2021 concerning the Greene and Bowman incidents. This was after the changes he had talked about surrounding the charges of Trooper Brown around Sept. 24, 2021 that was supposed to have been in effect over the past 11 months that he alluded to in the Trooper Brown arrest statement. It is hard for some to believe that after the long history of the police and how Black people are treated, diversity should not be an issue, or re-training, banning chokeholds (remember Eric Gardner?), de-escalation and bias training (white privilege?), and intervention (some officer steps in and says, "no more", are things that Black leaders have been asking for decades. Some officers may not want to accept any training, as Brown allegedly had other uses of force issues in his record. Derek Chauvin is serving time for his crime and if justice is to be served, Jacob Brown may be next.

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